Every new editor of time gets his--or her--chance to reimagine it, and there has never been a more exciting time to do that.
TIME now reaches an audience its founders could only have dreamed of: 50 million people around the world, in print, online and via mobile devices. That's partly because of the growing demand for news you can trust, stories that move you, photos you can't forget and exploration of ideas and individuals who are shaping how we work, play, learn, love, save, vote and parent. I believe TIME's mission is more vital than ever--not just weekly but daily, hourly and by the minute when news is breaking.
Our purpose is in our very name. Time is valuable; people are busy. We all know we need to stay on top of the news because we're living through a period of historic change, with events that have enormous impact that we can't escape and can't ignore. And while there is a vast amount of information available, all that data can have the perverse effect of making us feel less aware, less informed, unsure of what to believe or whom to trust. Later this fall, we will introduce a new, more powerful TIME.com to increase the speed, volume and depth of our coverage.
It's no secret that the media have fragmented in recent years, that audiences have been split into tribes and that more and more people get their news from ever narrower outlets. But I believe there is still a national, indeed global, hunger for authoritative voices that speak to the country and the world, ask sharp questions, tell hard truths, go where others can't and turn a light on the people whose influence you feel even if you've never heard their names.
TIME has always told stories through people. And we are living through the most immense transfer of power from institutions to individuals in history. You want to fight crime, make music, preach a sermon, publish a memoir, learn particle physics or solicit startup funding for a line of wallets made from recycled bicycle inner tubes? The access and influence you need are at your fingertips. Technology has picked the locks of power, and we have barely begun to figure out what that means--other than that the stories just keep getting better.
If individuals are compelling, so are the forces that are reshaping nations: the pursuit of scarce resources, the emergence of remote-control warfare, the flow of money and the flow of talent, and the recognition that global security depends not only on alliances and armies but also on making sure children--girls as well as boys--can get to school. Here, too, history appears to accelerate, from the rise of Africa to China's growing pains, from Brazil's emergence as a Western giant and Russia's renewed swagger to the remaking of the Middle East.